MANILA — A torrid shooting display in the second quarter by the Meralco Bolts turned a close contest into a rout as the Bolts zapped the Barako Bull Energy Cola, 99-86, Wednesday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. The Bolts unloaded 34 points against the Energy Cola's 19 in that decisive period as Meralco coasted along to its fourth win in six games. Sol Mercado led the Bolts with 22 points, six rebounds and six assists. Ronjay Buenafe and Mac Cardona added 16 each, while Reynel Hugnatan chipped in with 12. Cliff Hodge and Sunday Salvacion also added eight points each in a display of balanced firepower. Meralco head coach Ryan Gregorio pointed to his players' unselfish attitude, scoring-wise, as the key to his team's string of successes. “The best thing about our team now is that nobody cares who gets the credit for the win. Whatever we lacked with ceiling, we compensate with quickness. We're now 4-2 so we have the best six-game start of our young franchise,” Gregorio said. Meralco's victory forged a four-way tie for second to fourth place in the rankings as the Bolts joined the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, Alaska Aces, and San Mig Coffee Mixers, all with a 4-2 win-loss card. The Bolts are now enjoying their best season start in their franchise history. The loss sent the Barako Bull tumbling down to solo eighth place in the 10-team field with a 2-5 win-loss card. Josh Urbiztondo and Doug Kramer led the Energy Cola with 14 points apiece while Leo Najorda and Enrico Villanueva had 13 each. In the first match of the Halloween Wednesday twinbill, two streak shooters figured in a duel down the wire but James Yap proved to be deadlier than his rival Willie Miller as the San Mig Coffee Mixers outgunned the GlobalPort Batang Pier, 82-78. Yap drilled 11 of his 16 points in the decisive final quarter as the Mixers came from behind to frustrate yet again the Batang Pier. Marc Pingris top scored with 17 points, while PJ Simon had 15 as the Mixers improved to a 4-2 record. GlobalPort was still up 76-75 in the last two minutes of the game after leading by as many as eight points, 58-50, at the start of the fourth quarter. But Yap scored off a step-back jumper to give the lead to San Mig Coffee. Miller responded by sinking 2 of 4 from the charity stripe to regain the lead for GlobalPort. But Yap once more rose to the occasion by a hitting a difficult shot with 38.8 seconds left to take the lead back to San Mig Coffee, 79-78. Mark Barroca then put the finishing touches, sinking three free throws to finally subdue the Barako Bull. San Mig Coffee head coach Tim Cone was far from ecstatic after his team's another close brush with defeat. “You look at all our wins, they were tough. Right now, I wish we can be a lot smoother, move the ball better. In the meantime, we will take the ugly wins, but hopefully we can win pretty down the line,” said Cone. Miller led all scorers with 19 points but his production was not enough to end the Batang Pier's misery. GlobalPort remained at the bottom of the standing with a 1-6 card.
